A Falcon 9v1.2 Block 5 rocket successfully launched the IXPE – Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer mission for NASA on 8 December 2021. The launch took place at 0600 GMT from the former Space Shuttle Pad 39A in Cape Canaveral. The reusable first stage B1061 (on...
European Space Agency (ESA) has selected Airbus DS to design and manufacture its fourth “Medium-class” Cosmic Vision mission. The Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey (ARIEL) mission is an exoplanet survey telescope, set to launch in...
NASA has awarded the Houson, Texas-based firm Intuitive Machines a US$77 million contract to deliver scientific and rover payloads to the Moon as part of its IM-3 Nova-C lander mission to the Moon in 2024. The delivery is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload...
A suborbital/sounding rocket launch of the Japanese SS-520 (Two Stage Suborbital) rocket was launched from the Svalbard Rocket Range in Norway at 1009 GMT on 4 November 2021. It flew to an altitude of 956 km before re-entering and falling into the ocean downrange,...
Having achieved a major success with its Hope probe mission to orbit Mars, the United Arab Emirates is to launch another unmanned space probe, this one going to the planet Venus, and beyond to the asteroids between Mars and Jupiter. The plan is for the spacecraft to...
NASA has selected the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) spacecraft as its next Small Explorer (SMEX) class mission. The selection confirmed COSI as the contest winner on 18 October, heading out three other finalists who were also selected in March 2020....
